Intellectual property office of Ireland

On 2nd December 2019, the Patents Office of the Republic of Ireland changed its name to the “Intellectual Property Office of Ireland” (IPOI).

This name change follows the trend of patent offices to rename themselves as intellectual property offices. Other renaming examples include:

• The UK Patent Office - renamed itself as the UK intellectual property office several years ago.
• The Office For Harmonisation Internal Market (OHIM) - renamed itself as the European Union intellectual property office (EUIPO)

The term “intellectual property” is a generic term for a bundle of disparate and unrelated rights including:

• Patents
• Trade Marks
• Registered Designs
• unregistered design rights
• Copyright
• Supplementary protection certificates
• Utility models
• Design patents
• Plant breeders rights

Intellectual property rights are allocated state-by-state on a national basis, but with some regional and international overlays, such as the European Union (EU trade marks and designs), the European Patent Convention (European patents), international patent applications, international trade marks and international registered designs.

Not all national intellectual property offices manage the full set of intellectual property rights available and usually, patents and trade marks are the most numerous intellectual property rights managed by national intellectual property offices.

For representation of matters before intellectual property offices:

• European patent attorneys are qualified by examination and experience to represent clients at the European patent office, and at other patent offices within the European patent Organisation, and for international patent applications.
• Chartered patent attorneys are qualified by examination to represent clients for patents, trade marks, designs and all matters at the UK intellectual property office, and for international patent applications, international trade marks and international designs..
• European trade mark attorneys are qualified by examination and/or experience to represent clients at the European Union intellectual property office for trade marks and designs, and for trade marks and designs at intellectual property offices in EU member states and for international trade marks and international designs.
• Chartered trade mark attorneys are qualified by examination and experience to represent clients for UK trade marks and for international trade marks and international designs.
• Irish patent attorneys are qualified by examination and experience to represent clients for patents, trade marks, designs and other matters at the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland, and for patents in various other EPC countries, and for international patent applications, international trade marks and international designs.

For more information on the different types of intellectual property rights, please browse our website.

If you have a specific query on a particular specific type of right, then please consult one of our patent or trade mark attorneys.

franksco@franksco.com

Article by Robert Franks robert.franks@franksco.com